1. Field
The present invention relates to reduction of noise in digital video streams, more specifically to reducing random noise in digital video streams.
2. Background
Digital video content that is generated, transmitted, and viewed may be affected by noise. Two types of noise are random noise and compression noise. Random noise (which may also be referred to as video noise or Gaussian noise) may be produced by the sensor (e.g., camera) or by transmission of the video over analog channels. Compression noise may arise when digital video is compressed as part of storage or transmission.
Both random and compression noise may be distracting to the viewer and affect the experience of watching video content—especially on larger displays. Creating a viable, noise-free video eco-system, directly from the sensor to the display, is difficult and in some implementations not possible. Furthermore, the scale and speed at which the images are needed to provide video quality presentation involves processing many pixels in a short period of time. For example, modern televisions may feature 1920×1080 pixels (e.g., over 2 million pixels). As cameras and display technologies gain sophistication and consumers demand higher fidelity, the number of pixels may also increase.
Therefore, there is a need to provide methods and apparatus for reducing random noise that may be included in digital video streams.